Chapter 129: Chapter 129: Great Uncertainty

“You two know each other already?”

In response to Mr. Qi’s curious question, Mr. Pan chuckled. “Mr. Yan and I have had the good fortune to meet twice before, but we don’t know each other well.”

Qee Sheng said, “Oh,” and gestured to Yan Feifan. “This is Yan Feifan, an outstanding young doctor trained right here at our own medical school and the Affiliated Hospital.”

“He’s set his sights on becoming an all-around surgeon.”

Qee Sheng added, “Mr. Pan, don’t be fooled by how young he looks. Just a couple of days ago, he successfully performed a digital replantation as the lead surgeon.”

“What’s more, his medical fundamentals are solid, his knowledge is broad, and he’s a flexible thinker. He’s also made quite a name for himself in diagnosing difficult and complex cases.”

Mr. Pan picked up the thread, nodding in praise. “I could tell from the start that Mr. Yan was no ordinary person. He’s truly young and promising, a remarkable talent.”

Yan Feifan said humbly, “You give me too much credit, sir. You’re just being too generous.”

Mr. Pan chuckled. “But I know Mr. Qi is always strict and rarely praises anyone.”

“For him to be so lavish with his praise, you must truly have something special about you.”

He then turned to Qee Sheng and asked, “Mr. Qi, about that glimmer of hope you mentioned earlier…”

“It couldn’t be…”

Mr. Pan glanced toward Yan Feifan.

Qee Sheng nodded. “That’s right. It’s Yan Feifan!”

“Mr. Pan, I’m not just stringing you along. In my opinion, if anyone can come up with a novel solution that those other fellows couldn’t, it would be Yan Feifan.”

Instead of continuing, Qee Sheng turned to introduce Mr. Pan to Yan Feifan. “This is Pan Lirong, Chairman of Lantian Paint Industry and an outstanding entrepreneur.”

After a pause, Qee Sheng continued, “Feifan, Mr. Pan and I have known each other for years. We’re golf buddies who get along well.”

“He’s using a cane now because six months ago, he was diagnosed with an intrathecal tumor in his spinal canal, located at the third, fourth, and fifth lumbar vertebrae.”

Qee Sheng sighed softly. “The tumor was discovered a bit late, and the surgical risk was quite high, so Mr. Pan opted for conservative treatment.”

“But now, the tumor has progressed to the point where surgery is unavoidable. Otherwise, Mr. Pan will miss his last window of opportunity for the operation.”

At this point, Pan Lirong spoke up again. “Mr. Yan, this morning, Mr. Lo from Neurosurgery told me…”

“He said that after the surgery, there’s a high probability I’ll be paralyzed from the waist down and be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of my life, but it would save me.”

“If I don’t have the surgery and keep putting it off, I’ll have a few months at best, maybe a year or two at most.”

Pan Lirong looked at Yan Feifan, his voice filled with hope. “Mr. Yan, I don’t want to be in a wheelchair, but I want to live. Please, help me.”

Yan Feifan replied cautiously, “I will do my best, Mr. Pan.”

“Let me see the tumor imaging data first…”

Qee Sheng turned on the high-definition digital display mounted on the wall and pulled up the MRI scans of Pan Lirong’s intrathecal tumor.

The moment Yan Feifan saw the scans, his eyes widened.

’Damn, this tumor is huge. It’s already taken up nearly half the space in the spinal canal and is six centimeters long.’

’Moreover, the tumor’s shape is extremely irregular.’

’It’s like an octopus, completely entangled with the surrounding nerve bundles in the spinal canal. It’s impossible to tell where one ends and the other begins.’

’The difficulty of this surgery is off the charts…’

Yan Feifan stared at the series of tumor scans, simultaneously constructing a three-dimensional model of the tumor in his mind while conceiving a surgical plan…

Standing to the side, Qee Sheng saw the gleam in Yan Feifan’s eyes and nodded in appreciation.

’That’s what a doctor who aspires to be a master physician should look like.’

’Instead of frowning or being afraid when faced with a difficult case or complex surgery, he meets it with the thrill of a hunter spotting his prey.’

’Only by proactively taking on one challenge after another like this can one constantly surpass oneself and become a true master of medicine.’

Qee Sheng gave Pan Lirong a look, and they both returned to the seating area.

“Let’s have some tea. This guy is probably going to be thinking for quite a while.”

Pan Lirong distractedly lifted his teacup and took a sip, sighing softly. “Mr. Qi, I’ve always prided myself on having the composure to remain calm even if a mountain were to collapse in front of me. But right now, I’m truly panicking.”

“Sigh…”

Qee Sheng refilled Pan Lirong’s cup. “Anyone would panic in this situation.”

He then added reassuringly, “Don’t be fooled by Yan Feifan’s age. He’s already given me, and several other chief physicians, some huge surprises.”

“This time, there’s a good chance he’ll deliver another one…”

Today, their wait for a surprising answer was a bit long.

It wasn’t until nearly five in the afternoon that Yan Feifan, looking mentally exhausted, finally gave them a response.

“Dehydrated ethanol injection?”

Qee Sheng pondered for a moment, then explained to Pan Lirong, “Mr. Pan, you’ve surely heard of dehydrated ethanol. It’s just alcohol.”

“This method involves injecting alcohol with a concentration of at least ninety-five percent directly into the center of the tumor, guided by ultrasound or CT.”

“Due to the high concentration of the alcohol, it causes the tumor cells and nearby vascular endothelial cells to rapidly dehydrate. Their proteins denature and coagulate, leading to necrosis or ischemia in the tumor cells.”

“It’s a fairly mature tumor treatment technique, mainly used for treating liver tumors.”

Qee Sheng looked at Yan Feifan and asked, “Are you proposing to use this technique to kill Mr. Pan’s spinal tumor?”

Yan Feifan shook his head. “The spinal tumor is too soft and fluid-rich. The chances of killing it this way are very small.”

“My goal is to use this method to dehydrate and shrink the tumor…”

Yan Feifan pointed at the tumor scans. “Here, and here, and here…”

He pointed to seven or eight different spots on the various scans and explained, “By injecting high-concentration alcohol, according to my plan…”

“This will cause the tumor to dehydrate and shrink inward, detaching it from the intertwined nerve bundles at these points.”

“If that works…”

“The difficulty of surgically removing the entire tumor would be significantly reduced. The probability of Mr. Pan being paralyzed from the waist down would also be much lower.”

Unlike the overjoyed Pan Lirong, Qee Sheng wore a cautious expression as he asked, “Feifan, what’s the difficulty in this surgical plan?”

Yan Feifan explained, “This spinal tumor is quite soft. After injecting the alcohol, we can only judge the direction it will shrink in based on experience.”

“There’s a great deal of uncertainty in how it will contract.”

“Also, the locations for these alcohol injection points are also determined by experience, which adds another layer of major uncertainty.”

Pan Lirong asked tentatively, “With Dr. Lo’s extensive experience in neurosurgery, he should be quite confident, right?”

Qee Sheng sounded pessimistic. “If he were confident, he would have been the one to propose this method to you.”

He asked directly, “Feifan, if you were to design this surgical plan, what are your chances of success?”

Yan Feifan hesitated for a moment. “There’s limited reference data, so it’s hard to say.”

He stated conservatively, “If you give me enough time to run some tests and gather more information…”

“I’d say the odds would be around forty to fifty percent.”

Yan Feifan also had to prepare for a rhinoplasty surgery that evening.

Pan Lirong also wanted to discuss the specific feasibility of Yan Feifan’s surgical proposal with Mr. Lo, the director of neurosurgery.

The two of them said their goodbyes to Mr. Qi together…

When Yan Feifan returned to the Emergency Department, he found someone waiting for him.

It was Zhao Xiaoting, the film academy student who works as an extra, along with one of her female classmates.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep